And how does that explain that he's been getting super hot water? His
problem isn't burned out elements, it's water that's too hot.



At one time the thermostats only opened one leg of the power so when an
element burned thru the housing the current would flow from the unswitched
leg thru the water to the tank or piping and thus to the ground. This would
continue to slowly heat the water and would overheat the heater if little or
no hot water was being used.

The symptoms would be a combination of inadequate hot water when being used
regularly and overheating when not being used.

Don Young